I Believe I Can Fly...I Believe I Can Touch the Sky

Had the good fortune to witness and capture this fledgling Great Horned Owl practicing its flight skills by leaping from this perch back into the nest. This was a very high nest and not an easy shoot. The sibling and one of the adults was in the nest at this time. While I would have liked to move the bird to the left, there was no way of doing so. Did add a little canvas on top.

Canon 1D4, Canon 500L & 1.4
F9, 1/2000sec, ISO 1000, manual mode
Feisol tripod, Jobu head

C & C always welcomed and much appreciated.

As much fun I'm having with songbird as much or more fun you are having with Owls, Marina.
This is one striking image of a juvi.
Love the pose with the wings up.
IQ is excellent. I would move the Owl just a little to the left in the frame.

Hi Marina, sweet, sweet light, and well timed to capture the raised wings. I do like the colour of this youngster, and the sky BG actually works well in this. Im fine with the placement, and glad you have left space behind the perch.

Oh Marina, but he is so cute! Beautiful pose! I would agree with Karl but on the other hand I would not want to lose the tip of the perch or crop too close to it-I like it as it is! Love the detail and colors and the clean look of this image, a beauty!!!

Kind regards,

Hey Marina, I love the maximum wing stretch. Great you were able to capture the flight practice. Beautiful color on the Owl.

lol....a funny one...someone glued his feet to the branch by the look of it. Very nice as it is, no need for a different composition in my eyes....lovely image all round

You nailed this one Marina. I love the light and the full upstretch.
The sharpness is spot on -wings tack sharp but fuzzy body still shows through.
Comp is good but as you stated a bit moved to the left would be great,
Gail

Marina, I agree with Phil on this one. I love the composition. I have a vision of the next frame - his feet don't leave the ground and he falls flat on his face :)

That is a sweet pose and it really shows just how long those wings are. I would also like to se him a bit more to the left

About perfect.
Light, stretched pose and IQ look great.
You had and took advantage of a very nice opportunity.

Excellent image . I like the wing up position with very nice HA,beautiful colors and details.
Very nice exposure and IQ.Love the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

The quality of the light and that full out stretch make this one a beauty.

Quite lovely! the warm light is what really caught my eye! but of course this is a stunning bird and pose is super! well done.

I dislike the song, but I dig this image!
Great light quality, excellent details...(perfect sharpening), peak action. You managed the shooting angle very well imo.

great capture,magic light,good pose,sharp,good detail,well done.

superb pose you have got here! lovely light & details. comp looks very good